Disclosure: This is part of a series reviewing art supplies, specifically those from Discount School Supply, our favorite art supply company. Some of the products reviewed are our own; some of the products reviewed were provided free of charge from Discount School Supply. I will note which were provided for review within the series. Though I was offered some of these products for free, the opinions offered are my own and were not swayed by the free products. This post also includes some affiliate links to Amazon for your convenience.
Other posts in this series include:
We love painting around here and fingerpainting is just always a hit. Once your toddler is old enough to not "taste" paint, I love using store-bought paints (if they are still "tasting" - I'd recommend using either of our recipes for edible fingerpaint - we have one
here and one
here). I have yet to find/create a homemade recipe that rivals the lasting power and vibrancy of store-bought paint.
Here are ten ways to use fingerpaints with a few links to friends at the end for even more ideas to enjoy this wonderful type of paint.
1. Scraper Painting
Discount School Supply sent us one of their
BioColor Paint Scrapers and S and I were excited to give it a try with our fingerpaints. I'd seen scrape painting done before with amazing results, so I had high expectations. It did not disappoint! S chose three colors of paint and selected where she wanted big globs of each to go and then set to work painting the page with big sweeping motions. For this piece of artwork we used the extra large size
Colorations Colored Paper we received (in white). It held up really well to all that heavy paint and it was nice to have a "canvas" that was a bit bigger than average sized paper.
Check out S's expression here - she was impressed, too! Hahaha.
Using the scraper was a fun way to mix the colors together and it was just such a different way to paint - we really had a great time with it!
2. Blotto Art
I actually had to Google what this type of painting is officially called! I've got so many fond memories of doing it myself, and it's still fun to this day. To make Blotto art, you take a sheet of paper and fold it in half. We used some high quality
watercolor paper
that we adore. You then add big dollops of paint in various places. S put them all in a straight up and down line this time. Then you fold and squish and squeeze the paint as much as you can. When you are ready, slowly open the folded paper and a beautiful mirror image will reveal itself. We thought this one looked like a butterfly and I thought the patterning in the fingerpaints was so cool - like tree roots!
3. Foam Roller Painting
We received a set of
foam rollers from
Discount School Supply and it was S's first time painting with rollers. It seemed like the sort of thing that necessitated a large piece of paper and some room to walk, so I set S up with a large stretch of butcher paper and pulled the chairs back from our dining room table to allow her to move freely. She set to work creating a map! The tracks the rollers left were "roads" and she had a running narrative for the map of the town she was creating.
The finished piece of artwork had a few pieces of construction paper added to it (various buildings in the town) and some glitter. Because you can never have too much
glitter (as evidenced by our
Golden Glitter Slime, amiright?).
4. Tape Resist
To do tape resist, you need a good sheet of paper (we use high quality
watercolor paper) and low quality masking tape (we use Dollar Tree masking tape). The stronger your paper and the weaker your tape, the better! I had S lay out strips of tape and once she was done I continued them to the edges of the paper by adding more tape (you could leave it as is, of course, but I love the stained glass effect that is created with complete lines). Paint to your heart's desire, and then remove the tape to reveal your masterpiece!
5. Squish Bags
If you have a little one around (or even if you don't these are still cool - but they do have a special appeal to babies and toddlers), you can add some fingerpaint to a Ziploc bag and tape it in the window to have a really interesting way to make some art. X was fascinated by the purple sparkly paint and enjoyed making tracks in it with his little chubby fingers over and over again.
We loved the way the window lit up the paint and really accented the glitter in the paint.
6. Fingerpaint Matching Activity
You could do color coded shapes (i.e. red-outlined triangle, green-outlined circle, etc) if you have a toddler and regular fingerpaints. S is a bit older, so I thought I'd give her a bit of a challenge by drawing the shapes of the glitter that's within each
Colorations Confetti Paint (each color contains a different shape of glitter) and see if she could figure out how to match the paints with the shapes. It took her a minute, but once she discovered the connection she was super excited.
An activity like this is a great way to reinforce shapes with younger children, and great fine motor practice to paint within the lines.
7. Body Painting
This is an old picture of little S when she was around 18 months old - but body painting with fingerpaints is SO much fun. :)
8. Erupting Fingerpaints
If you have some leftover fingerpaints, add some baking soda (about a tablespoon will usually suffice), stir, and then add vinegar for a beautiful glittery fizzy reaction. S erupted several colors of leftover paints and then "painted"and played with the bubbly foam with some of her plastic miniature animals.
9. Paint with Textured Brushes
S and I really enjoyed this set of
Colorations Wacky Painting Tools that
Discount School Supply sent us. S enjoyed feeling each brush on her arm and cheek before starting to paint. We did a free paint on a large bit of butcher paper where she just explored the patterns that each brush made when you moved it in different ways (swirling, straight line, hard, soft, etc).
Then I had her turn away and used a sheet of
construction paper to make patterns with each of the brushes. Then S had to match the brush to the imprint like a puzzle! A few of the patterns really tricked her, but she loved it!!!
10. Mess Free Fingerpainting
This is a great way to mix it up, or if you have a baby/mouthing toddler OR a child who does not enjoy messy hands - you can put a piece of paper with paint inside a Ziploc and they can paint through the bag while keeping their hands clean. This was how X got to "paint" with us.
OK, so his painting mostly looked a lot like drumming because he still doesn't really "get" painting...but it was nonetheless adorable and he enjoyed participating with sis. :)
Still looking for more ways to use that fingerpaint?
One of my all time favorite fingerpainting methods - a la Linoleum floor. Click
here to see
Dilly Dali Art's beautiful kitchen floor masterpiece!
Or you could incorporate sponges in an interesting way like
Blog me Mom did
here.
Please always supervise your infant/child at play. Please stay within arms reach and never leave infants/children unattended.
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